Ideas worth talking about.

avoiding the stinky problem

Photo Credit: OpenCage

I saw a story on the TV news last night about city officials who decided to use perfume to mask the odor of the local sewage plant. According to the print version of the story, it costs about $120 a day to spray one of three scents: blackberry, vanilla or creamsicle.

And it made me think about this quote from a book I recently read.

“Most of us try to seek an answer to the problem; we are concerned with the solution, and not with the problem. We want a conclusion, we are looking for a way out of the problem; we want to avoid the problem through an answer, through a solution. We do not observe the problem itself but grope for a satisfactory answer. Our whole conscious concern is with the finding of a solution, a satisfying conclusion.

Often we do find an answer that gratifies us, and then we think we have solved the problem. What we have actually done is to cover over the problem with a conclusion, with a satisfactory answer; but under the weight of the conclusion, which had temporarily smothered it, the problem is still there. The search for an answer is an evasion of the problem.”

Page 136, Commentaries on Living, J. Krishnamurti

how to get noticed

• Attach 105 balloons to your lawn chair.
• Fire 1,000 of your worst customers.
• Stock your store with Buzz cola and Krusty-Os cereal.

72 & sunny in eugene

John Boiler and Glenn Cole, co-founders and co-creative directors of 72andSunny, presented their work at Ad Night last week at the UO campus. They did a great job of telling the story about how they solved their clients’ business problem by developing sound communication strategy. Two examples are Zune and DC shoes (These link to YouTube, go to the 72andSunny site to see all of their work).

The next day, John (left, white shirt, hand on chin) and Glenn (right, green shirt, hand on chin) met with students and reviewed their work.

John said, “Know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Then, get really good at it.”

(Glenn was talking about non-profits and causes here)

Glenn said, “You’re job is to help people make more money. You’re job is to be great at interviewing the client.” You need to make sure you're solving the right problem for them.

Some good questions: What keeps you up at night? How do you make money? What do you do with that money? Are people feeling loyal to your cause? What is it about your cause that is different?

Shocking people or using sensational language is one mistake people make when trying to generate awareness for a cause, they said. The message needs to be optimistic. It needs to connect with people in a positive way and it needs to make them feel good about supporting the cause.

“We want to see how you think. If you can make us think about it (a product or a cause) or care about it, then you’re job is done.”

John and Glenn, thanks again for taking the time to visit. Great job guys!

clearly define it

It seems so little time is devoted to developing sound objectives. We know the most important part of solving a problem is to clearly define it, which may not be as straightforward as it sounds. Yet, we often delve into strategy, without looking back. Perhaps, brilliantly solving the wrong problem.

Guy Murphy, JWT's global planning director, writes a great piece about this issue on the IPA Strategy Group’s blog. Check it out here.

winner takes all

Here's the background. Five teams in Dr. Tim Christy’s  Ad Strategy class had three weeks to research, find insights and develop a campaign strategy. Then, last week, the teams had 20-minutes to pitch their ideas to a panel of five judges. Winner takes all, well in this case an A.

I was one of those judges.

Let me say, it’s great being the client (or in this case a judge). I know how much effort was devoted to these presentations. That being said, as a judge I really don’t care.

All I care about is a coherent argument that is backed up with evidence and is told in an engaging way. Also, I want to know how the team plans to measure the effectiveness of their strategy. Am I starting to sound like a client?

Now, for some constructive criticism. One common theme I noticed: the business problem was not defined. I just finished reading Juicing the Orange by Pat Fallon and Fred Senn. They say, "demand a ruthlessly simple definition of the business problem." How very true. If you don't know the business problem how can you solve it? The folks at Fallon have a list of 127 questions to help identify the business problem. Here's the list.

Overall, I was impressed with all the teams who pitched their ideas. They did a great job in a short amount of time.

Some resources for the next pitch:

I recommend Jon Steel’s book Perfect Pitch. I love the story about Steve Jobs.
Also, Garr Reynolds has some great presentation tips.

conversations

So, I’m not talking about multi-paged surveys or focus groups. I’m talking about ordinary conversations with your customers. And why it’s the single most important thing to do.

Diane Hessan has a great example (watch the video, it gets good about halfway in). The company she talks about uncovered some remarkable insights, but what’s more remarkable is that they acted on them.